The idea of passive income; multiple streams of money. I mean waking up every day to see on your phone, “Oh, I’ve made a bunch of money overnight.” It seems like such a foreign concept—yet so appealing. Today, I have with me Kimberly Ashkenazi; a real-life human freaking rock-star that lives this very life. She’s been studying wealth, health, and financial-empowerment for over a decade and has come to one conclusion: sums of money over streams of money every day.

She owns a growing portfolio of rental properties, has a social media driven health and wellness business, and she flips houses with her husband. In December of 2018, she kicked her six-figure corporate job to the curb. (Hello, can I get an amen on that?) On today’s episode, we’ll talk about creating cashflow and building multiple streams of income. Kimberly, welcome to The Gutsy Podcast!

What has led you to where you are today in life?

As all of us were, Kimberly was born with several natural gifts and talents. One of those natural inclinations has always been optimism—constant optimism.

“As far as back as I can remember, when I see people that are achieving some area of success—it could be fitness, it could be wealth, it could be lifestyle, it could be whatever—um, then I will just do some kind of background research about that person. Just basic stuff, even just reading Wikipedia. And I’ll say, ‘okay, if they can do it, I can do it.'”

Corporate Gal

Kimberly began within real-estate development, moving full-force into her career with both passion and drive. She knew the potential that rested within this path, and was even able to negotiate a raise and promotion that led into a DOUBLED income—“talk about breaking through limiting beliefs”—yea, you can say that again. All of this while being seven months pregnant with her second child and having a newly purchased house in need of “six-figures worth of renovations.”

Needless to say, there was a lot on this corporate gals’ plate.

I’m not a corporate person . . .

“We pushed too hard and basically kind of broke.”

Burnout is real, guys. And unfortunately—we all kinda experience it from time to time. But the silver-lining to burnout is that they always allow us to discover more and more about ourselves. For Kimberly, this was when she realized how un-corporate of a gal she actually was (even though she was a rock-star at it).

With a lot of stress quickly piling up, Kimberly went through a series of health issues that led to a string of surgeries after having her baby.

“. . . Several days in the hospital where there’s a newborn at home and our three-year-old was at home and we’re still finalizing renovations. And this job, I mean, even with the stress of my job and this focus on performing, like, I had my boss when he was in town come meet me in the hospital because I had some updates to give him and it was just ridiculous.”

As much as Kimberly wanted to give her best effort into multiple areas of her life, she grew more and more aware of how the diluted efforts began to take a toll on her marriage (and, of course, her health).

“And so it was just a real wake up call of, wait a minute, what are my priorities? Where am I spending my time? Do I really need to be this stressed out? And the answer is no . . .

You can build your dream life and it doesn’t have to include massive amounts of stress. So finally, I just decided that it was time to quit that job.”

Building Your Dream Life (Without Massive Amounts of Stress)

As an entrepreneur or like-minded business person, the idea of achieving success and the life we desire oftentimes comes stigmatized with the thought of ‘Oof, that’s way too much stress. I’m not sure it’ll be worth it. Like, I don’t want my life to be one strenuous obligation after the next.’

What if we said it doesn’t have to be that way? What if we said there are balancing tactics to eliminate the copious amounts of stress others (or perhaps yourself) may be experiencing?

“. . . Creating your ideal day to day—your ideal lifestyle and not creating a life that’s just an overwhelming level of stress and a constant race—is really two parts: One is how are you putting all of those puzzle pieces together? How are you building that empire of yours? And then two, how are you relating to it?”

Kimberly goes by the multipurpose rule-of-thumb. So, if something is only serving one purpose—she removes that level of stress from her plate and puts her energy into things that support more than one purpose/intention (i.e working out—which is great for not only physical health but mental, emotional, it gives you energy, which makes you show up as your best self, which trickles into all areas of life).

By creating a life based around activities that serve multiple areas of your life, you’re able to create a synergy and maintain a lower level of stress and overwhelm.

how the hell did you create multiple streams of income?

“I just started saying yes to more things.”

For Kimberly, it was super critical to keep positive mentors around her that allowed her to grow her knowledge and potential. These were people succeeding in several different areas; areas Kimberly was motivated to improve in. And then came the time as she questioned whether to get her real-estate license or not.

“So there came a time when we were asking ourselves whether or not I should get my realtor’s license. It seemed like a good idea, but it’s like there are so many realtors. I mean, does it really make sense for me to get a license? There’s so many, like should I get one? And his answer was, ‘yeah, it’s just another tool you’ll have in your tool belt that you can put to use when the time is right.’

And it immediately paid for itself.”

There is something pretty magical about not limiting yourself or potential due to anyone or anything else. If you feel passionate about something, go for it. Say yes to it.

So few decisions are forever decisions

Hey you, does this sound familiar:

Gosh, there are several things I’d love to do. I just can’t make a decision. I mean, how am I supposed to limit myself to just one? What if I make the wrong choice?

A lot of us are afraid of making the wrong decisions and becoming stuck. The ironic thing is—fear is the true cause of stagnancy and complacency. For the most part, our decisions aren’t permanent commitments.

If you say yes to something and it ends up not working out, cool. Move on by saying yes to another thing. Keep going and don’t let your ambition or fire go out. Because it’s absolutely okay to not make perfect decisions every single time (I mean, how boring that would be).

Success comes with the courage to try; something Kimberly experienced again and again.

Know When to Say No

So let’s be clear, you don’t have to say yes to everything, ALL the time. In fact, as Kimberly points out, sometimes you just need to focus and say no.

“If you need to get stuff off the ground, if you want to get started, if you don’t know where to start, you have to just start saying yes. Say Yes. Say Yes. Say Yes. And things will start to happen, you know? You’ll learn what is more productive for you and what is less productive. And then you’ll learn where to focus. And then once you’re focusing, there’ll be that period like, ‘okay, I’m focusing, my time is valuable, I have to say, no, no, no.’ And then you’ll get to the next phase of where you need to just start saying yes, yes, yes again.”

So basically, if it’s not a hell yes—it’s a no. Figure out what that means to you and make sure that what you’re working to aligns with what you’re saying yes to—keep that multipurpose rule-of-thumb in mind every step of the way. Move forward intentionally. And when it’s time to thoroughly focus on YOU and a precise effort—it’s okay to say no.

how to Begin Saying Yes

Okay, so finding the courage to push through those red-flag-fears stapled to the hovering decisions we have to make is probably a lot easier said than done (especially if decision-making makes you all kinds of anxious). But Kimberly had such a beautiful concept of this we think you should hear:

“. . . When you are faced with an opportunity or decision and it really scares the pants off of you, then that is a very crystal clear sign that that is what you need to do. That is undoubtedly what you need to do.”

With change comes MUCH resistance. In fact, the changes that are most for you—oftentimes come with the most resistance. Which may make you feel like it isn’t the right choice at all.

But if there is one way to relieve some anxiety from saying yes to those decisions that feel difficult to fulfill (or as though all forces are trying to keep you from it), always remember to listen to your gut; your intuition. You’ll know the right choice.

From there, don’t allow the resistance that comes with it keep you from doing the precise thing the universe is saving for you. And as Kimberly says, “surround yourself by people that also push themselves.”

Be willing to do it

There are SO MANY amazing takeaways from this beautiful episode and the wonderfully insightful, Kimberly. But if I had to leave you with one, it’d be this: You just have to be willing to do it.

Those dreams you have, that life you envision and long for—are you willing to put the work in to get yourself there? Are you willing to believe it’s possible? Are you willing to be gutsy and start saying yes to the exact life you are capable of creating?

The only odds against you are your mindset; once you conquer that, the sky’s the limit.